By Tupac Hunter
The Wayne County Treasurer’s office has undertaken a new ad blitz to improve local participation in the county’s upcoming annual tax foreclosure auction. As many local news outlets have reported, problems have arisen with the auction process as out-of-state buyers and bulk land speculators are snatching up properties with no interest in improving them or the neighborhoods they are located in.
While striving to keep these properties in local hands is the right idea, this advertising campaign is a superficial solution. It’s like putting a fresh coat of paint on a broken fence instead of putting in the work necessary to mend it. We need to do more than promote the auction to local participants — we need to establish policies that will prevent the bad practices that are currently running rampant in these auctions.
Amidst the state’s struggling economy and ongoing foreclosure crisis, these practices are further destroying our already ravaged neighborhoods and destabilizing our healthy ones, putting the whole city at risk. This is not just a problem in Detroit, but in other urban areas as well that have a surplus of tax foreclosed properties. In Flint, one investment company from Illinois purchased 58 houses in a foreclosure auction for a total of $23,350 only to resell them on eBay.
While we should not be impeding business interest and investment in our city, these properties remain a blight if the ownership is changing but the quality of the homes is not. Investing means more than the purchase price — it means investing time and money, making improvements, creating jobs and adding value to these homes and neighborhoods. The future of our cities should not lie in the hands of speculators and scavengers, yet the treasurer’s current policies seem to favor them.
It’s disappointing that the Wayne County Treasurer’s office has not adopted common sense ideas to prevent this type of profiteering at the expense of our neighborhoods, but the process can still be fixed. That is why I have introduced a package of bills aimed at curbing the practices of land speculators in the state, specifically in Wayne County. The legislation would ban property owners who owe blight fines or back taxes from participating in county-sponsored land auctions. This would prevent homes from falling into the hands of unscrupulous land owners, and raise their prospects for improvement.
Also, I have introduced a bill that would allow for these properties to be transferred to a land bank before going to second auction with no minimum bid. Land banks, which have their area’s best interest in mind, can be used as a tool to return tax foreclosed properties back to the tax roll.
Companies that are snatching up real estate sight unseen are playing their own game of Monopoly, and Michigan cities and residents are the ones who are losing. We want investment from those with a vested interest in stabilizing our neighborhoods and protecting our property values.
In order to revitalize our communities and make them vibrant again, these tax foreclosed properties need to be rehabilitated and occupied, not haphazardly auctioned off in a “no-strings attached” manner.
(State Sen. Tupac Hunter is the Democratic Floor Leader and represents the 5th District, which is comprised of Dearborn Heights, Inkster and northwest Detroit. He is the Minority Vice Chair of the Senate Committees on Banking and Financial Institutions, and the Senate Committee on Economic Development, and is a member of the Senate Committee on Government Operations.)